on september 12, 2012, the hubs took me to the emergency room. i was in bad shape. i was numb from the middle of my head all the way down to the bottoms of my feet. complete with extreme skin sensitivity, anythin' touchin' my skin anywhere on my body was agonizin'. it felt like i had giant worms swimmin' in my head. the left side of my face was in spasms. i couldn't walk, it was as if my legs muscles were too weak and the left leg wouldn't go where i asked it. a boa constrictor had taken up residence at the bottom of my rib cage. an anvil rest on my lower back. muscle spasms shook most of my body. i had bloody diarrhea whenever i could actually keep anythin' down long enough fer it to get to my gut.
he thought i was dyin', and to be completely honest, so did i. i wasn't frightened by it though. seemed like a good solution to the complete and utter hell my body and mind had been goin' through. i couldn't focus, i couldn't think straight, couldn't walk, couldn't hold onto even a small plastic cup. i'd quit sweatin', body hair quit growin', hair & eyelashes were fallin' out. had no heat tolerance, yet if my extremities got cold, it intensified the hornets stingin' to an almost unbearable stage. yepperz, i jest figured that was the end of me.
upon arrival, the triage nurse was mortified by my condition and rushed me back. they were told of all my symptoms, all the cipro/steroids i'd been on and that my primary doc had given me a prescription for gabapentin fer the peripheral neuropathy and my experience with 'em. a nurse practitioner came in and told me, "mrs. cook, i think yer havin' a heart attack". i told her that i wasn't. i told her it was all stemmin' from my gut. my blood pressure, heart rate and other vitals were within my norm, although elevated due to all the pain. i've no history of heart disease. unconvinced, they insisted on doin' a full cardiac blood panel and an EKG. well, surprise! no heart attack. they did start an iv, jest in case the blood work came back funky.
the previous paragraph took an hour fer her to return to my room to tell me my heart was fine. after another hour of sittin' in the room, a nurse came in and told me to take some aspirin. the hubs reiterated that i have crohn's disease, have been havin' bloody diarrhea, so the answer would be NO.
after another hour and an empty iv bag, the hubs went huntin' someone - he didn't care who.
another hour and a half went by with no monitorin', no meds fer the spasms, no nurse/nurse practitioner/e.d. doc comin' in. 2 hours later an xray tech came in. hauled me down and did a chest xray and a CT scan of my head. really? what sort of info would one obtain while someone is havin' muscle spasms in the chest & head? the tech said, "the e.d. doc will have the results from the radiologist within 45 minutes", then hauled me back to my room.
at hour 7, still with no nurse or nurse practitioner or e.d. doc, i was hauled back down to the xray dept - now they wanted a CT scan of my chest. iv bag still empty, but at least he didn't have to struggle to get another vein to inject me with poison. i asked him the point of all this with the spasms. he replied, "ma'am, i'm jest doin' as was ordered." i was so weak, the brain all muddled and in so much pain that i couldn't even argue.
8 hours and 27 minutes from the time i was taken back into the emergency room, the e.d. doc finally made her grand appearance. told me i had peripheral neuropathy, wrote me yet another prescription fer gabapentin and told me to follow-up with a neurologist cuz there were "spots" in my brain scan. they sent me home. still broken, still no answers, they never did any testin' to see if it was my gut. the e.d. doc didn't physically examine me, nor did the nurse practitioner.
the charge fer this "wonderful care" that was provided to me? the hospital charged me $12,080.37. the e.d. doc's bill was $894.00. the radiologist (an innocent bystander 250 miles away) bill was $387.00. wanna know why? here's what the hospital administrator told me, "you were in the e.d. department for 8 and a half hours, mrs. cook." me, "yes, i'm fully aware of that fact, sir. if ya recall, i was there." apparently they "charge by the hour". i woulda had a smaller bill if i'd had a severed limb.... the e.d. doc's billin' department also informed me they charge by the hour. i asked how this is possible from both entities, since i was basically left sittin' in a room fer the largest portion of that time and scans 'n xrays were done with full knowledge that my body was spasmin' and tickin' all over. they jest told me that's how it's done. end of story, i discussed this at great lengths with every supervisor, administrator, his boss, both billin' departments to no avail.
to make matters worse, the neurologist wouldn't see me without me payin' 'em $500 up front, since i had no health insurance. needless to say, i didn't see the neurologist coz we jest don't have that sorta cash lyin' around, ya know?
fast forward to this present year, 2013. after finally havin' to go all the way down to scott & white in temple, tx (487 miles one way) to get anyone to even listen to me that i was jest not doin' well, guess what? severe crohn's, severe malnutrition, peripheral neuropathy "unknown etiology". my great gastro there hooked me up with a gastro in lubbock, tx since it was decided i needed to be started on remicade asap and it was jest too spendy to drive back 'n forth to temple. (by the way, i finally got approved fer health insurance november 2012 - high risk pool through my state)
my 1st 3 remicade infusions were given at the infectious disease control center in lubbock, tx. simply adored my nurse. all were polite, kind and understandin'. the place was under "covenant medical services", in may it was bought out by "covenant health systems". why is this important? beats the heck outta me. but apparently, it gives 'em the right to jack their services from $6212 an infusion to $24,109.82 fer the same exact infusion (ok, that's givin' 'em some leadway, cuz the last infusion i had to endure the pain of havin' 20mg of steroid shot directly into my vein - nurse said "the hospital says it costs too much to dilute it in some i.v. solution like we were doin"). same nurse, same facility, same nurse practitioner.
i called my insurance company, who paid their approved amount of $18,000 somethin'. they didn't see the trouble. said it was billed correctly and paid accordingly. really? am i the only person who sees somethin' snaky goin' on? i discussed it with my gastro, he too was ticked off about it. i'm not his only patient that gets treatment there and he'd already heard about their enormous jump in fees. said he was lookin' into it. i filed an appeal with my insurance company in order to get the higher ups involved in this injustice. i called the billin' department and requested a complete itemization along with ICD9 codes to all the procedures, meds 'n labs fer all my visits. i called the infusion center, who told me to call billin' back. there are no folks to answer the phone, so i left a voice mail. the next day (almost a complete 24hrs), this gal called me back and informed me that they had every right to bill it as an "outpatient procedure" instead of the prior "doctors office procedure". she didn't understand my trouble with it, told me to call the fella at the infusion center. i spoke with him, got the same explanation (amazin' how it's identical with the insurance co/facility billin'/infusion center, they must have the speech written down...). i told him it jest wasn't right. he told me, "i agree, it's not morally right" and gave me 2 numbers to his supervisors. guess what? they "are away from their desk", per the voice mail messages. i left 'em both a message.
folks have been gettin' their chemo from this facility as well. their bills skyrocketed also. i do not understand how this can be allowed. i'm outraged. i've sent an email to the president, and every elected official in both states. i also sent one to the states attorney generals office.
the hubs says, "jest leave it alone, hun." how can i? even as a "private pay" patient, i never received an itemized bill. i got a bill that said "lab services", "supplies", etc. no detail as to what the charges were actually fer. i received what i consider to be "non care" from the emergency room. all the folks listed from november 2012 have turned me over to collection agencies. coz i didn't pay my bills in full within 6 months. how could i? it's not like i've been able to find employment since i can no longer safely drive, can't walk half the time, can't hold a pen at times, my speech still changes, brain fog, muscle tic's and there's even times when i jest can't type as it feels like my fingernails will explode off my fingers with every stroke of a key.
yepperz, i'm disgusted and "Obamacare" will do not a useful thing to stop the immoral practices of the medical profession.....
